Information Management Department Research Articles

Enhancing the Intention to Preview Learning Materials and Participate in Class in the Flipped Classroom Context through the Use of Handouts and Incentivisation with Virtual Currency

The flipped classroom approach is an emerging instructional approach that integrates digital technology. This approach has been applied in several fields, and it has demonstrated considerably higher learning effectiveness than conventional teaching modes. Common problems in its implementation that directly or indirectly affect learning effectiveness include students’ low intention to preview learning materials and low class participation. To overcome these problems, the present study sought to increase students’ intention to preview learning materials and participate in class through the implementation of educational activities integrated with an incentivisation system using a virtual currency and the provision of handouts. Students in two programming classes in the information management department of the participating university were divided into the experimental and control groups. The intention to preview learning materials, levels of class participation, and learning effectiveness were all significantly higher in the experimental group than in the control group.

Social network analysis and data visualization of MIS international collaboration in Taiwan

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to apply social network analysis (SNA) to study faculty research productivity, to identify key leaders, to study publication keywords and research areas and to visualize international collaboration patterns and analyze collaboration research fields from all Management Information System (MIS) departments in Taiwan from 1982 to 2015.Design/methodology/approachThe authors first retrieved results encompassing about 1,766 MIS professors and their publication records between 1982 and 2015 from the Ministry of Science and Technology of Taiwan (MOST) website. Next, the authors merged these publication records with the records obtained from the Web of Science, Google Scholar, IEEE Xplore, ScienceDirect, Airiti Library and Springer Link databases. The authors further applied six network centrality equations, leadership index, exponential weighted moving average (EWMA), contribution value and k-means clustering algorithms to analyze the collaboration patterns, research productivity and publication patterns. Finally, the authors applied D3.js to visualize the faculty members' international collaborations from all MIS departments in Taiwan.FindingsThe authors have first identified important scholars or leaders in the network. The authors also see that most MIS scholars in Taiwan tend to publish their papers in the journals such as Decision Support Systems and Information and Management. The authors have further figured out the significant scholars who have actively collaborated with academics in other countries. Furthermore, the authors have recognized the universities that have frequent collaboration with other international universities. The United States, China, Canada and the United Kingdom are the countries that have the highest numbers of collaborations with Taiwanese academics. Lastly, the keywords model, system and algorithm were the most common terms used in recent years.Originality/valueThis study applied SNA to visualize international research collaboration patterns and has revealed some salient characteristics of international cooperation trends and patterns, leadership networks and influences and research productivity for faculty in Information Management departments in Taiwan from 1982 to 2015. In addition, the authors have discovered the most common keywords used in recent years.

HEALTH INFORMATION SYSTEM AS CORRELATE OF MONITORING AND EVALUATION OF PRIMARY HEALTH CARE SERVICES IN IFE CENTRAL LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA, ILE-IFE, OSUN STATE, NIGERIA

This study examines “The relevance of Health Information System in Monitoring and Evaluation of Health Care Delivery Services Ife Central Local Government, Ile-Ife. The research design used in this study was descriptive survey to provide necessary database on the relevance of Health Information System in the monitoring and evaluation of health care delivery services in Local Government Primary Health Care System, the researcher uses Ife Central Local Government, Ile-Ife, Osun State. The target population consists of one hundred and twenty (120) respondents (Staff of Primary Health Care Department of Ife Central Local Government, Ile-Ife). Sampling technique adopted for this study is total enumeration, all the staffs of Health Information Management Department were used for the research because the researcher considers these respondents as a genuine unit where all important and detailed information could be obtained for this research work. In the course of data collection exercise, a total of one hundred and twenty questionnaires were administered. The questionnaires were administered at the various units of the Primary Health Care Department of Ife Central Local Government and one hundred and fourteen questionnaires were completed and returned questionnaire which denotes the response rate to be 95% which proved that there is sufficient information from the respondents. From the findings of the study, it was discovered that health information system is effective due to the opinion of majority of the respondents which denotes that health information system contributes to good service delivery in Primary Health Care settings. It was affirmed that there are factors hindering effective management of health information system by the respondents which was supported by 75.5% of them in their response to question 24 of the questionnaire. HIS has benefits on health care monitoring and evaluation which denotes it can be used in policy and decision making. It was also proved according to responses to question 21 of the questionnaire that the duties of the health information officers cannot be overruled and that they play their roles as expected for generation and utilization of health information. It was observed too that health information is being put into use regularly for monitoring and evaluation of health care service by the respondents in question number 20 of the questionnaire. This study reveals that Health Information System has great impact on healthcare service delivery, the system captures, transmits and stores information related to patient care and the activities of the health institution. It incorporates routine information system, disease surveillance system, laboratory information system, hospital patient administrative system which is used to process reports and create awareness in order to make policy action programmes effective for quality monitoring and evaluation activities and the recommendations that were made includes: The provision of sufficient and well trained staff, training and seminar, caution against paucity in information gathering, adequate funding, setting up supervisory committee and computerization of various sections.

Educational Management Information Construction and Management Analysis in the Big Data Era

Informatization teaching of education management (EM) has gradually led to innovation, independence, and irreplaceability of university teaching as a whole. With the continuous development and continuous promotion of education informatization, it is of great significance to the overall school running level of various universities. This article takes the informatization construction and management of EM in 50 colleges and universities(CAU) as the main research body, and conducts informatization teaching environment, informatization education mode, informatization education content, informatization EM system, informatization student management, and network security system. The establishment and implementation of the literature research method was used to collect the concepts, contents and methods of the related issues of the EM information construction; the questionnaire survey method was used for statistical analysis of 96 valid questionnaires from 50 universities; the analysis of several examples was used Use SSPS 20 statistical software to process the relevant data of the valid questionnaire; use the interview method to collect information through interviews with the leaders of the school's information management department, teachers and students. The research results show that CAU with a multimedia classroom configuration rate of 100% are beneficial to the improvement of students' learning task completion rate. Micro-class and MOOC teaching have high-quality resources and popular trends can improve the teaching effect of CAU. Informatization of EM is conducive to the improvement of teachers' teaching tasks and the completion rate of students' learning tasks in CAU, and can promote the educational development of CAU.

Hacettepe Üniversitesi Bilgi ve Belge Yönetimi Anabilim Dalı Lisansüstü Tezlerinin Konu Analizi

In this study, it was aimed to examine 112 theses and dissertations (74 master, 38 doctorate) completed in Hacettepe University Department of Information Management between 2002-2020. Theses and dissertations which were obtained from Council of Higher Education Thesis Center, were grouped under 8 main topics (reading habits, electronic resources and bibliometric studies, records management, digital cultural heritage and open access, usability and information retrieval, user studies, public and university libraries, information security and ethics) by using the topic modeling method. The distribution of the topics according to the period, thesis type and supervisors were examined. There was no difference in topic matter according to the type of thesis. It was concluded that the topics have been expanding and narrowing down according to periods. Between 2002-2020, the most studied topic was user studies while the least studied ones were usability and information retrieval. In theses and dissertations, it was determined that Bulent Yilmaz, Yasar Tonta and Ozgur Kulcu were the supervisors most and that the supervisors mostly advised the theses on certain topics. As a result of the research, it was suggested to conduct more studies on topics such as information sharing, cultural heritage, open access, digitization, digital humanities, information retrieval, usability, e-government, digital data, personal data, information security. It is thought that the results of this research can guide students and supervisors in choosing a thesis topic.

Cultural Heritage Literacy of The Students of Information Management: The Case of Hacettepe University

Protection of cultural heritage products in a sustainable manner requires the information concerning those products to be accessible, usable and shareable. Even the skills of cultural heritage literacy, which form the basis of this process, are important for everyone, these skills are much more necessary for information professionals who have the responsibility to provide service in the area of cultural heritage. Evaluating cultural heritage literacy skills of information professional candidates, carries a great importance in order to understand whether they have adequate qualification while serving as a professional and to determine necessary training subjects they need. In this study, it is aimed to determine the current situation of the students of Hacettepe University Department of Information Management on cultural heritage literacy. For this purpose, a questionnaire of 28-question was sent to 356 undergraduate students via e-mail in 2018-2019 Spring Semester. 142 students answered to whole questionnaire. The data were analysed using descriptive statistics and a chi-square test. Findings showed that most of the participants have efficient cultural heritage literacy skills, and they have dominant competences in recognizing their information necessities regarding cultural heritage and sharing their cultural heritage information. It is considered beneficial especially for information professionals who have functions of protecting and transferring cultural heritage to the next generations, to add courses or course contents directly related to cultural heritage literacy to undergraduate programs of Information and Record Management Departments.

Library and information science research in Pakistan: A bibliometric analysis, 1957–2018

This article reviews 62 years (1957–2018) of research in library and information science in Pakistan. A comprehensive bibliometric study was conducted using the four leading databases (Web of Science, Scopus, Library and Information Science Abstracts, and Library, Information Science and Technology Abstracts). The researchers found a positive upward trend. Library research is on the rise in Pakistan. The Department of Information Management at the University of the Punjab is the major contributor to the library and information science literature. Forty percent of the total publications were published in two Pakistani journals. Older and well-established institutions like the University of the Punjab and the University of Karachi have taken the lead in publishing research. The Baluchistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa provinces require more focus and funding.

On Application of Geographic Information System in Urban Surveying and Mapping

With the continuous development of new technologies, geographic information system (GIS) has developed greatly in China, and a new pattern of national geographic information websites supplemented by provincial information management departments has gradually formed. However, there are still some shortcomings in its practice, such as lack of complete overall management in network construction, lack of practicality, serviceability, and convenience, and lack of the smooth operation of the guarantee mechanism. This paper mainly explores the characteristics of GIS and analyzes its practical application in urban surveying and mapping.

SISTEM INFORMASI PELACAKAN DATA ALUMNI JURUSAN MANAJEMEN INFORMATIKA IAIN BATUSANGKAR BERBASIS WEB

Improving the quality of services for students from the Batusangkar IAIN Information Management Department requires a system that can provide information needed by students and graduates such as information about alumni data and alumni careers themselves. In addition, this system can also be used as a means to establish communication and manage friendship between students and alumni. This research was carried out in several stages, namely: Collecting data through field studies by observing and observing the IAIN Batusangkar's Information Management Study Program, developing the system using the waterfall method and proceeding with the process, database and interface design. One indicator of the success of the education process can be seen from the success of alumni both continuing studies at a higher level, as well as various fields of work carried out professionally, but the Department of Information Management has not been managed and organized systematically causing some alumni data to not be captured properly, resulting in the lack of information and communication between alumni and alumni. The results of this study are in the form of developing a tracking information system for alumni that contains the amount of alumni data that has worked, alumni workplaces. For this reason, it is necessary to create a system to facilitate the institution, especially the informatics management department in tracking alumni. In this research the web-based application system is designed using supporting applications such as Apache, MySQL and Macromedia Dream Weaver and the waterfall modeling method.

E+Vida: concepção e validação de software de gerenciamento do tempo de hospitalização de pacientes

Objetivo: Objetivou-se conceber e validar um software de apoio ao gerenciamento do tempo de permanência de unidades de internação traumatológicas. Método: Pesquisa metodológica. O ambiente de concepção do software foi o setor de Gerência de Tecnologia da Informação de um hospital terciário do Estado do Ceará, Brasil. Realizou-se uma interface com o sistema de gestão hospitalar vigente na Instituição (E-SUS). Utilizou-se a validação de conteúdo, aparência e o teste de usabilidade, onde enfermeiros, médicos e residentes que atuam no hospital em estudo utilizaram o protótipo funcional e responderam a um questionário. Resultados: Foi investigado a aparência do aplicativo e+Vida quanto as cores, tamanho das letras, com o cálculo de IVC resultando em 0,93. Quanto as informações contidas (conteúdo), foi perguntado se são suficientes para realizar o gerenciamento do tempo de internação, assim, obteve-se IVC 0,8. A avaliação com o questionário SUS mostrou que o valor SUS foi em média de 84,5±11,997. O mínimo foi 65 e o máximo foi 100. Conclusão: Os aspectos positivos do software foram apresentados, considerando a inclusão de um planejamento participativo, uma visibilidade do tempo de permanência por unidade e a disponibilidade da informação da situação atual do paciente em tempo real.

The Relationship between Quality of Work Life and Productivity of Health Information Management Staff in Educational Hospitals of Isfahan

Background: Hospital, as one of the most important organizations for health promotion, requires efficient and effective human resources. Health information management staffs are responsible for storing, processing, and distributing information used to improve the quality of healthcare services. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between quality of work-life and productivity of health information management staff.
 Methods: This descriptive analytical cross-sectional study was conducted on 165 staffs of health information management department in an educational hospital of Isfahan in 2017. The data were collected using Walton Work Quality life Questionnaire and Gold Smith's Manpower Productivity Questionnaire. Data were analyzed using descriptive and analytical statistics, including Pearson correlation coefficient, independent t-test, Spearman correlation coefficient, analysis of variance and linear regression analysis by SPSS 18.
 Results: Average scores for the quality of work life and productivity were 2.65 ± 0.51 and 2.64 ± 0.42, respectively. According to one-sample t-test, these scores had a significant difference with the moderate level (p < 0.05). Based on the Pearson correlation test, the quality of work life had a direct and significant relationship with the productivity of staff (r = 0.73 and p < 0.05). Independent t-test showed that the average score of productivity in men was significantly higher than women (p < 0.05).
 Conclusion: Considering the direct and significant relationship between the quality of work life and productivity in the staff of health information management department as well as the low level of these two components, the relevant authorities should take appropriate measures. These approaches include safe physical design of workspace and establishment of a fair payment system in accordance with the working conditions of this department. The quality of work life should be improved since it affects the quality of service delivery and staff productivity.

A qualitative evaluation of clinically coded data quality from health information manager perspectives.

It is essential that clinical documentation and clinical coding be of high quality for the production of healthcare data. This study assessed qualitatively the strengths and barriers regarding clinical coding quality from the perspective of health information managers. Ten health information managers and clinical coding quality coordinators who oversee clinical coders (CCs) were identified and recruited from nine provinces across Canada. Semi-structured interviews were conducted, which included questions on data quality, costs of clinical coding, education for health information management, suggestions for quality improvement and barriers to quality improvement. Interviews were recorded, transcribed and analysed using directed content analysis and informed by institutional ethnography. Common barriers to clinical coding quality included incomplete and unorganised chart documentation, and lack of communication with physicians for clarification. Further, clinical coding quality suffered as a result of limited resources (e.g. staffing and budget) being available to health information management departments. Managers unanimously reported that clinical coding quality improvements can be made by (i) offering interactive training programmes to CCs and (ii) streamlining sources of information from charts. Although clinical coding quality is generally regarded as high across Canada, clinical coding managers perceived quality to be limited by incomplete and inconsistent chart documentation, and increasing expectations for data collection without equal resources allocated to clinical coding professionals. This study presents novel evidence for clinical coding quality improvement across Canada.

The influence of organizational culture on information governance effectiveness

PurposeThis paper aims to explore the impact of organizational culture on information governance (IG) effectiveness at higher education institutions (HEIs). IT professionals, such as chef information officers, chief technology officers, chief information security officers and IT directors at HEIs were surveyed and interviewed to learn about whether organizational culture influences IG effectiveness. Several IG activities (processes) were identified, including information security, the function of an IG council, the presence of a Record Information Management department, the role of a compliance officer and information stewards and the use of an automated system or software to identify and maintain information life-cycle management.Design/methodology/approachThis study was conducted using Cameron and Quinn’s (Cameron and Quinn, 2011) competing value framework. To evaluate organizational culture, using the competing value framework, four types of organizational culture profiles were used: collaboration, creation/innovation, controlling/hierarchy, and competition/result-oriented. The methodology included quantitative and qualitative techniques through the use of content analysis of data collected from participants. IT professionals, such as chef information officers, chief technology officers, chief information security officers and IT directors at HEIs were surveyed and interviewed to learn about whether organizational culture influences IG effectiveness.FindingsFindings revealed organizational culture may influence IG effectiveness positively, especially from cultures of competition/result-oriented and control/hierarchy. Qualitatively, it also emerged that competition/result-oriented and control characteristics of organizational culture were perceived by IG professionals to produce more accurate information. One of the characteristics of organizational culture that became evident in the current study, coming from more than one subject, was the challenge in IG due to the presence of information silos. Trust, on the other hand, has been highlighted as the glue which can enable and drive governance processes in an organization.Research limitations/implicationsThe current study was conducted based on HEIs. While the current study serves as a baseline for studying IG in other institutions, its results cannot be generalized for other type of institutions. The results cannot be generalized for other types of not-for-profit or for-profit organizations. Many of the characteristics of the sample data were specific to HEIs. For instance, financial, manufacturing and health-care institutions present challenges inherent in those institutions.Originality/valueTrust has been highlighted as the glue which can enable and drive governance processes in an organization. Respondents of current study have indicated that trust serving several different factors toward IG effectiveness, including freedom to speak freely in the meeting about impact of organizational culture on IG, wiliness of executives of administration, particularly the CIO, to communicate IG matters to institution, sharing information and being transparent, entrusting help desk staff and technical supervisors so users can communicate with them and share their concerns and perceiving “feeling of trust” in the organization, which would benefit the institution, allowing stakeholders to collaborate and work together to overcome issues when facing IG challenges.

Exploration of design and practice of disaster medical rescue monitoring system with privacy protection mechanism

On the premise of fully studying the disaster medical rescue monitoring mechanism in emergencies at home and abroad, the functional requirements of the domestic disaster medical rescue monitoring system was analyzed in this paper, the logical framework and data structure of disaster medical rescue monitoring system with privacy protection mechanism was designed by department of emergency in Chinese PLA General Hospital, department of information management in School of Economics and Management of Beijing Jiaotong University, the School of Information Management of Nanjing University. Three major functional modules were realized in the system: reporter information management, disaster medical rescue data upload, and disaster medical rescue data search. Android client and Web client were developed for easy access to the system. The system also had the function of privacy protection. Based on symmetric searchable encryption algorithm, the system realized the encryption storage of untrusted servers and ensured the security of medical and health data. It is beneficial for the further development and improvement of disaster medical rescue data collection in China.

Nurses' Knowledge and Treatment Beliefs: Use of Complementary and Alternative Medicine for Pain Management.

Purpose: To examine the relationship between nurses' knowledge, attitudes, and beliefs about medicines, in general, and complementary and alternative medicine (CAM) and identify the predictors of referrals for pain management. Method: This descriptive, correlational study utilized an online survey to collect data from direct care nurses at a large medical center in southeastern United States. The online survey consisted of the Complementary and Alternative Medicines and Beliefs Inventory (CAMBI), the Beliefs about Medicine Questionnaire, and four open-ended questions. Referral data were obtained from the Information Management Department at this medical center. Results: Among the 218 nurses who completed the survey (15.12%), majority (85%) supported CAM use, but only 32% reported utilizing CAM therapies with patients. Medical surgical, emergency department, and perioperative nurses scored higher on their CAMBI total score and were more likely to refer for CAM therapies when compared with intensive care unit nurses. Conclusions: Beliefs about CAM specifically were not related to referrals for CAM therapies. This study suggests the need for further education on the nurse's role in CAM usage. Understanding the link between nurses' knowledge, attitudes, and treatment beliefs and their relationship to CAM usage provides direction for future educational interventions.

Smart Medical Information Technology for Healthcare (SMITH).

Summary Introduction: This article is part of the Focus Theme of Methods of Information in Medicine on the German Medical Informatics Initiative. “Smart Medical Information Technology for Healthcare (SMITH)” is one of four consortia funded by the German Medical Informatics Initiative (MI-I) to create an alliance of universities, university hospitals, research institutions and IT companies. SMITH’s goals are to establish Data Integration Centers (DICs) at each SMITH partner hospital and to implement use cases which demonstrate the usefulness of the approach. Objectives: To give insight into architectural design issues underlying SMITH data integration and to introduce the use cases to be implemented. Governance and Policies: SMITH implements a federated approach as well for its governance structure as for its information system architecture. SMITH has designed a generic concept for its data integration centers. They share identical services and functionalities to take best advantage of the interoperability architectures and of the data use and access process planned. The DICs provide access to the local hospitals’ Electronic Medical Records (EMR). This is based on data trustee and privacy management services. DIC staff will curate and amend EMR data in the Health Data Storage. Methodology and Architectural Framework: To share medical and research data, SMITH’s information system is based on communication and storage standards. We use the Reference Model of the Open Archival Information System and will consistently implement profiles of Integrating the Health Care Enterprise (IHE) and Health Level Seven (HL7) standards. Standard terminologies will be applied. The SMITH Market Place will be used for devising agreements on data access and distribution. 3LGM 2 for enterprise architecture modeling supports a consistent development process. The DIC reference architecture determines the services, applications and the standards-based communication links needed for efficiently supporting the ingesting, data nourishing, trustee, privacy management and data transfer tasks of the SMITH DICs. The reference architecture is adopted at the local sites. Data sharing services and the market place enable interoperability. Use Cases: The methodological use case “Phenotype Pipeline” (PheP) constructs algorithms for annotations and analyses of patient-related phenotypes according to classification rules or statistical models based on structured data. Unstructured textual data will be subject to natural language processing to permit integration into the phenotyping algorithms. The clinical use case “Algorithmic Surveillance of ICU Patients” (ASIC) focusses on patients in Intensive Care Units (ICU) with the acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). A model-based decision-support system will give advice for mechanical ventilation. The clinical use case HELP develops a “hospital-wide electronic medical record-based computerized decision support system to improve outcomes of patients with blood-stream infections” (HELP). ASIC and HELP use the PheP. The clinical benefit of the use cases ASIC and HELP will be demonstrated in a change of care clinical trial based on a step wedge design. Discussion: SMITH’s strength is the modular, reusable IT architecture based on interoperability standards, the integration of the hospitals’ information management departments and the public-private partnership. The project aims at sustainability beyond the first 4-year funding period.

Modeling the Acceptance of Hospital Information Systems among Nurses: An Extended Technology Acceptance Model

Introduction: The perceived usefulness and perceived ease of use have been considered as the main factors affecting the acceptance of the new technologies since last few decades. However, it appears that these only two factors cannot describe the users’ behavior in the environments like the Hospital Information System. From the technology acceptance standpoint at the individual acceptance level, the present paper tends to develop a Technology Acceptance Model with introducing some external factors.Material and Methods: This study was conducted in 2017. The research population was included 185 nurses who works in Health Information Management (HIM) departments of Tehran University of Medical Sciences. A questionnaire was developed in order to gather the required data. The validity was obtained by panel of experts and the reliability was examined and then confirmed in a 50 person sample using the Cronbach’s Alpha (a=0.93). The Likert’s five item scale was applied. The data were analyzed using descriptive statistics, exploratory factor analysis, and path analysis.Results: The behavioral intention was affected significantly and positively by the factors of perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, self-efficacy, end user support, social norm, trust, job relevance, and training, with trust having the highest level of effects. Also perceived ease of use had a significant effect on perceived usefulness along with an indirect effect on behavioral intention through perceived usefulness. The factors of anxiety, voluntariness, and facilitating conditions showed no significant effects on behavioral intention.Conclusion: The factors of trust, perceived usefulness, social norm, end user support, and self-efficacy have an impact on the behavioral intention of the users utilizing the Hospital Information System in the concerning hospitals. These factors could explain 72% of the changes of behavioral intention. Concentrating on them would lead to the improvement of the acceptance and Hospital Information System efficiency.

Effects of AIDET Communication Program on Satisfaction among Patients and Families in Cardiac Care Unit, Bangkok Heart Hospital

Objective: To investigate the effects of Acknowledge, Introduce, Duration, Explanation, and Thank you (AIDET) communication program on satisfaction among patients and families at cardiac care unit, Bangkok Heart Hospital.Material and Method: This study was done using pre-post study design. A patients and families satisfaction report was collected by the Quality Information Management Department, Bangkok Hospital. Data were collected precommunication program implementation from January to December of 2014 and post AIDET communication program implementation from January-December of 2015 with a telephone structured interview guideline. Data were analyzed using descriptive statistics using percentage and comparing two proportions using Test of two proportionResults: A total of 882 respondents were accepted to provide their information. After the communication program implementation, patients and families satisfaction raised from 46.1-54.8% to 56.4-62.2% and was higher than those before the program implementationConclusion: This communication program could be an effective intervention to increase patients and families satisfaction. Health care providers could employ this communication program to improve communication behavior in which to improve quality of care.

Using Lean methodologies to streamline processing of requests for durable medical equipment and supplies for children with complex conditions

BackgroundAn improvement team from the Complex Care Center at our large pediatric medical center participated in a 60-day initiative to use Lean methodologies to standardize their processes, eliminate waste and improve the timely and reliable provision of durable medical equipment and supplies. MethodsThe team used value stream mapping to identify processes needing improvement. Improvement activities addressed the initial processing of a request, provider signature on the form, returning the form to the sender, and uploading the completed documents to the electronic medical record. Data on lead time (time between receiving a request and sending the completed request to the Health Information Management department) and process time (amount of time the staff worked on the request) were collected via manual pre- and post-time studies. ResultsFollowing implementation of interventions, the median lead time for processing durable medical equipment and supply requests decreased from 50 days to 3 days (p < 0.0001). Median processing time decreased from 14min to 9min (p < 0.0001). The decrease in processing time realized annual cost savings of approximately $11,000. ConclusionsCollaborative leadership and multidisciplinary training in Lean methods allowed the CCC staff to incorporate common sense, standardize practices, and adapt their work environment to improve the timely and reliable provision of equipment and supplies that are essential for their patients. ImplicationsThe application of Lean methodologies to processing requests for DME and supplies could also result in a natural spread to other paperwork and requests, thus avoiding delays and potential risk for clinical instability or deterioration.

A Flip Blended Learning Approach for ePUB3 eBook-based Course Design and Implementation

Using digital and internet technologies in recent years has not only provided more education opportunities outside classrooms, but has also gained many attentions as a new theme for prospective learners to acquire knowledge in a more convenient way. In such a new paradigm of the so called e-Learning, many efforts have been made to build web-based learning systems that provide controllable processes of learning activities with desired curricular contents. From the learning perspective, this means that desired contents are delivered with spectacular ways to catch the attention of the learners or to enhance their comprehension on these contents. For this need, we present in this paper a flip blended learning approach for designing, lecturing, and assessing academic courses with ePUB3 eBooks used in learning activities for delivering desired curricular contents. Further, for justifying its validity, the approach employs also an analysis about the effects of using our ePUB3 eBook-based flip blended learning model in academic course learning. For implementation, the approach is applied for the design and instruction of an ‘Object-Oriented Concepts’ course for freshman students at a Department of Information Management.